Rant: How I used to set tools with paper feelers vs now

Back when I started 8 years ago in a shop outside Detroit I would use a piece of notebook paper to set my Z offsets, figuring that was close enough for anything. Switched to a Haimer probe after I crashed a $4000 part on a Haas VF-2 because my paper feeler gave me a false reading. Anyone else out there still relying on the old paper trick or did you switch to something better?

3 comments

3 Comments

the_harper26d ago

The part about the Haimer is interesting but I gotta ask - how did the paper actually give you a false reading? Was it like a torn edge or something weird with the humidity? Because I've used paper for years and never had an issue unless I forgot to check if the paper was crinkled. But now I'm wondering if I've just been lucky or if there's something specific about how paper behaves on different machines.

karen_sanchez4926d ago

Yeah dried out paper edges can throw off a Haimer every time.

margareto2625d ago

Ngl that paper feeler trick is how I learned too, but @karen_sanchez49 mentioning dried out edges got me thinking about the time I grabbed a napkin from my lunch instead of feeler paper. Got a false zero and ended up machining air for a whole cycle - part was fine but I wasted 20 minutes scratching my head. Paper thickness varies way more than people realize, especially if it's been sitting in a humid drawer or got folded a weird way.